DIY Wills
5 risks you take when making a DIY Will
Would you advise your patients to self diagnose medical conditions on the internet?
Of course not, being a medical professional you know that online information offers a mixture of valuable but also misleading and inaccurate information and when making a diagnosis you take into account all symptoms and possibilities and know the avenues that should be explored.
The same can be said for Will writing.
If you choose to either draw up your own Will or use an “off the shelf” DIY kit, you are taking a risk with not only everything you have worked all your life for, but also in ensuring you are effectively providing for those who mean the most to you in the world.
You may save yourself a few pounds but is it really worth the risk?
Here we consider the most common issues with DIY Wills:
- Ambiguities in the Will can lead to confusion as to how an asset should be distributed or a beneficiary should be treated causing costly disputes and heartache when those you care about are suffering already as a result of the bereavement.
- There are strict legal requirements for making a valid Will, the Will signing process and who can act as a witness, it is easy to make a mistake and leave yourself unwittingly without a valid Will or with certain beneficiaries missing out altogether on their entitlement
- A Will is personal and must take into account your specific financial circumstances ensuring that where possible your Will does not increase your liability to inheritance tax or care home fees.
- Wills drafted without assistance often just consider the here and now and are not drafted to be flexible and to take into account changes in circumstances in the future.
- Handwritten amendments to existing Wills whether homemade or not that are inadvertently not legally binding.
It is not worth taking the risk of DIY for the sake of a few pounds, call on a professional you can trust to give you accurate and tailored advice that gets the job done properly.
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